OSU Honors College announces April appearance of astronaut

CORVALLIS - Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, will visit Oregon State University next April and deliver a free public lecture.

Ride also will present a seminar to students in OSU's University Honors College.

The noted astronaut is the third high-profile speaker invited to campus by the honors college since it began at OSU in 1995. Law professor Anita Hill was the inaugural speaker in the series in 1996, followed by civil rights activist Julian Bond last spring.

Ride will appear on the OSU campus April 7. Her public lecture, "The Future of the American Space Program," will begin at 7 p.m. in LaSells Stewart Center. She will meet with students from OSU and area high schools the following morning on campus.

In 1983, she became the first American woman in space when she completed a mission about the space shuttle Challenger.